ComingSoon.net Interviews Ben Barnes

ComingSoon.net recently talked to Ben Barnes about his role in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Barnes mentions watching the BBC television series of Dawn Treader and admiring Samuel West’s performance as King Caspian. The episodic nature of the book is also addressed, with Barnes citing it as one of the reasons the story is such a satisfying read and fan favorite. Barnes also talks about how his character has changed, noting the different accent and Caspian’s more authoritative and confident bearing. You can read the full interview here.

Thanks 7chronicles and qwertykate88 for the heads-up!

19 Comments For This Story

I’ll say Caspian’s better in VotDT than in PC. I can’t stand Caspian in PC but he looks awesome in VotDT 😀

Samuel West also plays the Erol of Edrington in Horatio Hornblower 🙂 ‘You see, Horatio? If you had been rich enough you could have bought a comission as well as a uniform and been in the military instead.’

It’s really weird to think that Barnes has seen the BBC Narnia. We can’t stand them… 😛 Our friends say ‘the one with the 12 ft. beavers :)’

But at least Ben enjoys his role! 😀 Looking forward to seeing him in this movie! 🙂

But BBC Narnia is a masterpiece. It was a low budget TV show, not modern Disney/Fox. The music of the composer who actually died just last month is beautiful. It also shows the power of the books. I’m sure C.S. Lewis would be liking them much better than what Disney/Fox has made of them, not to say they are horrible.

I agree. The ’12 foot beavers’ were due to the fact that CG wasn’t very prominent at that time. However, the acting was altogether pretty good. They aren’t something you would watch at a sleepover or anything, but they are classic.

It’s nice to see Barnes admiring Samuel West’s performance. The BBC Narnia series may be low-budget and short on special effects, but they "got" what the stories were about. To me that’s far more important than flashy special effects and lots of money to burn. What does any of that mean when the heart of the story has been ripped out?

I agree with you all. I mostly like the BBC because they stick to the true story of Narnia, even if they are sometimes (okay well alot of the time) corny! They are still good. 🙂 They are a good laugh, but they still follow the books and that’s more important.

I’m not sure what’s so completely terrible about the BBC series. Yes, the video effects are terrible, but if we’re going to evaluate solely something on its SFX, we’d have to discount a lot of iconic films. Also, after thirty years, people may be horrified by the video effects employed now in the films (I, for one, expect 3-D to be much, much advanced even in the next ten years), but I’d hope they could still enjoy watching the performances.

I’ve always been deeply impressed by Samuel West (and by his father Timothy as well), and while it is irritating to hear Trufflehunter as a female, I really love all I’ve seen of Joanna David’s work and am still trying to get my hands on a copy of her "Sense and Sensibility". On a less serious note, every time I watch "Burn Notice" I think of Ramandu’s daughter. 🙂

^Sammie, the reason some of us don’t like the SFX is because they are distracting. SFX are important because they are supposed to add to the story and make it more believable. If they aren’t done right, however, it distracts from the story. I think BBC did a wonderful job for their time, but BBC Narnia had its time, and now it’s Disney/Fox/Walden’s turn.

um… I’m sorry. I didn’t try to start a fight here 🙁 I was just saying I didn’t care for the movies. I said nothing about special effects… I watch and love Horatio Hornblower and the effects there are awful, but the way the story is presented is wonderful. I don’t watch movies for the CG or effects, in fact I thought it lame to waste so much time and money on the river god in PC when they could have had more of Aslan in it. And that’s just my opinion.

I’m really sorry. I didn’t try to step on anyone’s toes. I didn’t realize there was so much loyalty to the BBC version. To me, they didn’t capture the magic of Narnia and what it was. They were stale, lacking all the beauty of the books. If that’s *all* I had the books and BBC version, I’d just stay with the books…

But if it brings you the magic of Narnia, I have no problem with others liking it. Just personally, it didn’t catch the spirit of it all. Sorry guys, I’m just… goofy I guess :/

i think thats wonderful that Caspian’s more authoritive and confident. it completely makes sense, after being king for 3 years. it always did look like he wasnt very confident in himself as a leader, and even a bit intimidated, in PC. but now, he is a true king and is not afraid to lead. i really love that. im looking forward to seeing how his character has changed. it sounds very positive.

Oh I’m still gonna miss the accent 🙁 You know it’s funny how people complain about Caspian’s accent, yet the don’t complain about Tumnus’ I’ll admit Tumnus’ feels more natural, and Caspian’s is a bit heavy sometimes, but that could have been corrected with more practice- I liked how Adamson added it, it made the world feel bigger- I’m gonna miss that.
Other than that though I love the interview. It’s cool that he watched the BBC version.

Oh, good! I love Caspian, I loved him the most of all ever since I read the books as a kid, I loved him in PC, and I can’t wait to see him in VoDT! He sounds better and better every time he’s mentioned! I love how his character looks to be, more confident, determined, experienced, yet still with the hot temper Lewis clearly hinted Caspian has. Yay! Hmm, I expect I’ll miss the accent though… it’s a bit of a lack of continuity, but I guess we can blame it on Caspian being around Narnians for 3 years and the accent wearing off 😛

i think it’s good they changed him( hair, accent atc) doesn’t that mean he’s grown snice the last film? at first i didn’t like the changes they did 2 him, but i’m used to it. i’m his fan & i accept the changes they did to him or the movie. not EVERY movie they make can be excatly like the book